The `Songs of Experience' `Introduction' appears to be a lamentation concerning the demise of innocence, the gradual loss of nature through the corollary of experience. The persona cries `calling the lapsed soul', calling the `Earth, o Earth' to `return' from `the slumberous mass'. The Earth replies in `the Earth's answer' with the remark `break this heavy chain that does freeze my bones around' suggesting the coercive forces of industry and the artificial forces of man over the Earth, over nature. The `little girl' and `little boy' grow to be `lost' in this new world governed by industry, in this new world of mechanised Christendom, in this new world absolving itself of altruistic action and concern for the individual. The `lost' boy and girl make their way back to their instinctive origin and find solace in nature. The harmony of nature and its association with man is represented well...